Role Model
by Luki Dimension
Summary: On the first day of snow, Jamie gets sick doing something stupid. Jack wants to know why.


**Role Model**

Jamie was dying.

Well, it felt like he was. His head hurt and his nose wasn't working and his throat was sore and he was really, really hot. But judging from the lack of sympathy coming from his mother, he was just really, really sick.

"This is what happens Jamie Bennet, when you decide to go running around in the snow without any shoes" she chided, offering him a mug of hot lemon-smelling brew. Abby was on the bed instantly, sniffing away in a bid to gauge whether or not she wanted any of the strange liquid, and Jamie could only push her away half-heartedly, sniffling all the while.

He gave a heavy sniff. "Didn-didn't think it would be so baa-achoo!"

Sophie, who was standing at the door, just laughed.

"Achoo! Achoo!"

"Sophie, no making fun of your brother, and Jamie, stay in bed, and I mean _in bed_ this time. And keep the window shut."

"But I'm hot..."

"No buts! Unless you want to be ill the rest of the weekend, you'll stay in bed, window shut, and drink your medicine. "

He groaned, but settled when Abby decided his drink wasn't worth having and lay down by his side, head on his chest. Jamie sipped the cold remedy and grimaced, but it was enough for his mother to smile, and kiss his forehead before walking to the door.

"Just try to get some rest sweetheart. I'll be just downstairs if you need me."

"Thanks mom."

The door closed with a gentle click, and the boy heard his mother urging his still too hyper sister downstairs. When the sounds faded into nothing, his eyes dragged themselves to the window, focusing on the frost decorating the panels.

He'd been waiting two seasons for this! The first snow in months, at the weekend no less, and he was stuck inside.

He pouted and looked down at his drink, before taking another sip and shuddering.

"Tastes funny."

"Surprised you can even taste it right now."

Abby grumbled as Jamie jerked up, a smile on his face as a familiar figure flew through the window. "Jack! You're back!"

The frost sprite smiled, jumping onto the bed and sitting down, legs crossed at its foot. "Meant to be back earlier, but there was this little issue in the South of England and...to be honest its not that interesting so forget I said anything. Heard from your friends you came down with something. Gotta admit...you look awful."

"Gee, thanks" Jamie sniffed, before descending into another fit of coughing. Each one like a hammer to his pounding headache.

He tensed when he felt something press against his forehead, but relaxed when he recognised the blue fabric of Jack's sleeve. His hand was icy cool against his skin, and a glorious relief just now.

"Probably shouldn't keep this up too long" Jack said, sitting down by the side of the sick boy. Abby, not too happy about the additional cold, growled and shuffled her way to Jamie's other side, jostling the mug. "Your mom's right, cold is the last thing you need too much of right now."

"But I'm hot..."

Jack chuckled, removing his hand. "You don't have to tell me kiddo. But from what I've been hearing, you sort of had this coming."

Jamie groaned. "Not you too..."

"Yes, me too" Jack replied. "It's the height of winter and you spent all day running around without a hat, a scarf and, oh yeah, shoes. You ran through snowdrifts and skidded on the lake barefoot and thought you'd get away with it?"

Jamie pouted, and used taking another sip of his drink as an excuse not to look at his friend, who was still going.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of doing crazy things in the name of fun, but there's a difference between crazy and just plain stupid Jamie."

The boy mumbled into his mug, and Jack leaned in.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"...You do it all the time."

Jack blinked, staring at the embarrassed boy, before running a hand through his hair and groaning.

"Jamie...I'm the embodiment of winter. I vacation in _Antarctica_. The cold can't hurt me."

The boy wouldn't meet his eyes. "I thought...I thought maybe if practiced I could do it. If I kept running and I stayed warm it wouldn't be a problem."

He seemed to be bracing himself, and Jack stayed silent. The boy came to a decision and looked straight at the frost sprite.

"I wanted to be more like you."

Jack blinked, and then blinked again.

"Me?..."

"Yeah!" Jamie replied, stopping only to sneeze and then ploughed on. "You're really fun and cool. Everyone's been looking forward to you coming back and say you're like this great older brother and Claude and Pippa both say they want to be more like their older brothers and sisters so I wanted to be more like you."

"...huh?"

Jamie was sneezing again, and Jack to the chance to back off, scratching his head at the bizarreness of it all. Okay, he had noticed Jamie beginning to wear a blue hoody four days out of seven before Jack had left to give Summer space, but still...

Funny, it had never occurred to him that his friendship with Jamie might mean as much to the boy as it did to him. Jamie had other friends, family members, authority figures. Jack was just an added bonus to his childhood.

That was kind of...heavy. In a really great and terrifying way, and he would thoroughly freak out over it once he was done here and had the winds take him somewhere private. Right now though, damage control.

"Jamie...I'm flattered you look up to me so much. Really...its...more than I ever thought I'd get. And I love you for it. But you're human, and I'm not...and there are a lot of things I can do that you can't. And really, _really_ shouldn't try to do. Walking around in the snow without shoes? Right underneath freezing nightmares and trying to fly on the wind, okay?

Jamie nodded, though still looked upset.

"Are you mad at me?"

"What?" Jack yelped. "No, no, no...A little annoyed maybe, but I'll only really be mad if you go and do it again. I think you've learned your lesson."

It didn't seem to placate the boy any, so Jack knelt by the bed and smiled.

"It goes both ways you know. There's lots of things you can do that I can't?"

"Like what?" Jamie asked, frowning.

"Well..." Jack began. "You don't have to be believed in to be seen for one. And you can go out in the sun for as long as you want. Barefoot even."

His young audience blinked. "You can't go out in the sun?"

Jack shrugged, a rather painful story in the back of his mind. "Well, for a little while sure. But I'm really sensitive if I can't make snow. This one time, I got lost on my way back from Japan, landed right smack dab in the middle of these salt flats in the Middle East.

"Salt flats?"

Jack spread out his hands. "Think of them like deserts, only without the sand, barely gets any rain, and the salt makes it impossible to freeze anything. Not that I could since it was so hot. And when I say hot? I mean **hot**, even for humans. For me? That was like jumping into a fire. Thought I'd made a serious wrong turn and jumped into the sun. It's a good thing the winds picked me up after a few minutes or I'm not sure I would have had the strength to get out. Ended up spending a few days sleeping in a glacier down south to recover."

Jamie's eyes had widened to plates. "Really?"

Jack tapped the cooling mug, and Jamie dutifully drank. "Cold is my warm Jamie. But the flipside means I'm really sensitive to the heat. Kind of annoying too – I've always wanted to try and make it really snow on the Matterhorn in Florida..."

The young boy gave a rasping laugh, and, once proving to Jack that the mug was empty, set it aside and settled back down in his bed, one hand idly stroking Abby.

"I didn't think about that. You said you weren't here for summer cause it was too warm, but I didn't think about it like that."

Jack shrugged, hand going back to Jamie's face almost instinctively. "Eh, why would you? Now get some rest."

Jamie leaned into the cold touch, eyes drooping.

"...Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"If I stay in bed and get better really fast...will you make it snow again next week? I'll wear boots this time."

"...And a hat?"

A yawn. "...Uh huh..."

Jack laughed. "Then it's a deal."

"...And...Can we go sledding again?"

"...You got it kiddo. And throw snowballs and snowmen and everything in-between."

Jamie barely felt the hand leave, but smiled subconsciously at the cool breeze that flowed by.

Next weekend would be much better.


End file.
